Charter school pleads for time at West Chester schools hearing

WEST GOSHEN — Representatives of the Sankofa Academy Charter School didn’t dispute testimony offered by West Chester Area School District personnel against the school, but asked for one thing in return — time.

“I’m sitting here with heavy heart and mixed emotions,” said Lamont McKim, founder and CEO of the school. “I’m realizing I can’t do most things by myself ... we in no way want to be out of compliance. Simply as an alum I am asking for a little more time.”

McKim represented the school along with Fred Franklin, chairman of the school’s board of trustees, at the charter revocation hearing for the academy held Monday night.

District Superintendent Jim Scanlon began the testimony for the district, outlining the charter history and the school’s noncompliance with requests for information both under the original charter and when it was renewed in 2010.

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McKim admitted he took on too much responsibility and has learned he needs to have the appropriate support system and staff to be accountable.

“We are dedicated to not only catching up but getting ahead,” McKim said.

A notice of revocation informing the Africa-themed school of the district’s intention to terminate its charter was issued to the school earlier in March.

The recommendation to revoke the school’s charter came from district administration.

Located in the 400 block of West Gay Street in West Chester, the free public charter school instructs students in grades five through 12 from the southeastern Pennsylvania region.

According to the school, the mission is to “develop in each student a love of learning by providing a holistic education that includes critical and creative thinking, artistic expression, and positive character development (through the principles of Nguzo Saba and MA’AT) combined with a rigorous language arts, math, science, and technology curriculum.”

The school was originally chartered by the West Chester Area School District for five years on March 3, 2005.

The school’s charter was renewed for another five years in March 2010 with conditions imposed by the board. The conditions included quarterly financial and annual academic reports along with a transition plan for students coming and going from the school.

Assistant Superintendent Robert Frasier detailed the school’s performance on the required Pennsylvania achievement tests. In many categories which included math, reading and science, a majority of students scored in the basic to below basic categories with writing the only category where some level of student achievement was recognized.

“There is no discernable improvement in there,” Frasier said. “Students scoring below the basic level is a number that is concerning to us.”

According to Frasier, the school also failed to file its 2013 state-required qualified teacher data.

“It is a federal requirement to report this,” Frasier said. “Because this is not reported we cannot be confident on any level that they are employing appropriately qualified teachers.”

McKim said in the early years when the school began to grow many of the students were performing at the required state level.

However, he said their improvement and achievements are best measured on the individual level and not as a collective.

“Some of them have severe needs where they are many grade levels behind,” he said. “As a result they don’t show the level of growth that individual students make.”

As for the school’s financials, the district’s Director of Business and Finance Suzanne Moore said the school had a $98,000 deficit at the time of charter renewal which she said was concerning.

Moore said the financial copies received from the state were not from an independent auditor and they are not sure if they are in compliance with state standards.

According to the notice of revocation, specific items the school was not in compliance with include numerous failures to report financial data, statements and annual budgets, not only to the school district but the state as well.

The school also continued to miss required contributions to retirement benefits. If a charter school fails to make its required pension contribution, the chartering district is responsible for the missing payment.

“We are very concerned this amount owed to the district will continue to grow,” Moore said.

Moore reported that the IRS automatically revoked the school’s tax exemption in 2013.

Moore also raised concerns about the school’s fund balance which is operating at just under $20,000.

McKim said since starting with more than a $100,000 deficit, the school has made improvements which led to the positive fund balance. He added that once the school receives its funding from the other school districts, it is in a position to show a positive cash flow and make sure the district does not incur further burden of payments to the state retirement system.

According to Scanlon, only two students of about 58 who attend the academy are actually from the district.

District Director of Elementary Education Sara Missett broke down the enrollment of district students attending the school which peaked at 15 in the 2010-11 school year and is as low as two this year.

Missett said she intervened when two of the school’s vendors contacted the district to recoup payments from Sankofa they said were never received. Since the time of the claim the payments have been made.

“These are difficult times for the board of trustees and CEO,” Franklin said, but reminded the board a tremendous amount of effort has gone into the school.

“Our progress has not been earth-shattering but there are students in this community right now that have benefitted from this school,” Franklin said.

Franklin reinforced that as a board they did everything they could that they knew about and offered a promise the school is looking to move to a local university and adopt a bigger volunteer program.

“I am asking a moratorium on the charter revocation at least through the month of August. We need time to make necessary staff changes,” Franklin said.

During the public comment, two of Sankofa’s instructors spoke on the positive aspects they bring to the community by reaching students who are otherwise overlooked in the system.

“They come from an environment where they are pushed aside,” said Kathleen Barbour, a math teacher who said she has unquestionably seen improvement from her students. “Every one of our students gets individualized attention they need. We need to stay open for these kids.”

Instructor John Steward said he understands the financial concerns, but they are not that great.

Steward asked for pardon and mercy for McKim so they can get the help they need.

Overall, he said they need to be there as a resource for their students.

“We are getting the students who were rejected from the regular academic program,” Steward said. “These are the students which have been rejected and they are finding ways to contribute to our community. I do understand the importance of compliance, but the issue here is bigger, the issue is people who need our help when there is nowhere else to help them.”

After the hearing there is now a waiting period of 30 days to provide time for public comment before the board can render a decision. Comment can be sent to the school board secretary.

About the Author

Jeremy Gerrard is the Daily Local News' reporter covering the West Chester area and local school district. Jeremy is a Chester County native and a graduate of Auburn University. Reach the author at jgerrard@dailylocal.com
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